Linkage for Jul 9 8pm to Jul 11 8am

Raptors Blog » Raptors 2009 Offseason: Bargs Matey! Having Hedo around is only going to help Bargs develop. Hedo has the ability to light things up from outside, but he does attack the basket and is surprisingly effective when he does. He isn’t really fast, but he manages to use his body well, getting himself in good position to put in some layups or at least get to the line. If Bargs can take a few notes, he should be able to learn from Hedo and use his superior athletic ability (yes, I do think Bargs is a better athlete than Hedo) to create a few more points for himself.

Standing on the shoulders of a giant – The Globe and Mail “This is a huge deal for the Turkish community,” homeroom teacher Imran Coksurer shouted over bursts of gleeful bellowing as the children mobbed the smiling, six-foot-ten hardwood hero, who loomed, minaret-like, above them.”That’s what we’re hoping; we really want our voice to be heard and we want other communities to realize there is a Turkish community.”

Obscure as it might be to the rest of Toronto, the community’s presence has been made boisterously known to Mr. Turkoglu every time he’s visited here as an opposing player through nine National Basketball Association seasons with Sacramento, San Antonio and, most recently, Orlando.

Moneybags Bargnani ponders how to spend his millions – Yahoo! News Bargnani was selected first overall in the 2006 NBA draft and has recently signed a contract extension worth a reported $50 million over five years.”I’ve had so much money since I joined the NBA — 20 million in the first four years,” he said in an interview published in Saturday’s La Gazzetta dello Sport.

“I cannot even manage to think about what to do with it. I’m not someone who buys eight Rolls Royces and I don’t have strange needs or material dreams.”

Raptors by the (cap) numbers – The Globe and Mail Surprisingly there, are some decent bodies out there for 15-20 minutes and $2-4-million: Brandon Bass is one, though word is he’s heading to Orlando. Chris Wilcox another. You could take a flyer on the healing powers of Leon Powe – a Goodwin client, as is Demar DeRozan – and get him very affordably. I’ve always kind of liked Aaron Gray and he might be cheap.

Colangelo still tinkering with Raptors roster – The Globe and Mail The Raptors can sign Delfino without using the NBA’s mid-level exemption because they maintained his “Bird rights,” which allow teams over the salary cap to sign their own free agents. The rights were kept in the complicated four-team transaction finalized Thursday.That deal brought in Turkoglu and sent Shawn Marion to the Dallas Mavericks. The market for Delfino is expected to begin at about $4-million a season.

Another big man is needed, and former Raptors centre Rasho Nesterovic would be a good fit. But the Raptors will get stiff competition from European teams, who have offered the Slovenian big man between $2-million and $4-million.